​Imām Ahmad praising and defending Imām Ash-Shāfi'ī

Meaning that they accused him of inclining towards the Shī'ah-, whereupon (Imām) Ahmad said:

"I do not hold what they say. By Allāh, we have not seen from him except good, and we have not heard except good."

Then (Imām) Ahmad said:

"Know, may Allāh, Exalted is He, have mercy upon you, that when Allāh grants a man from the people of knowledge some knowledge and withholds it from his contemporaries and the likes of him; they become jealous of him, and subsequently they accuse him of things he is free from. And what an evil characteristic for the people of knowledge that is!"